This guide takes the reader on a journey through the evolving art of Flash game programming. It is designed for everyone from the absolute beginner to the salty veteran. The book begins with a full introduction to the Flash MX authoring environment. Unlike nearly all web game programming books, this book doesn't suffer from a lack of depth and shy away from the more advanced concepts that occur in game development. The author builds several games throughout the book, some of which focus heavily on Artificial Intelligence while another set of games will concentrate on Physics. These games will get into mass, velocity, acceleration; etc. Great care is taken to present the foundational information fully and clearly to ensure readers are fully prepared for the challenges to come. Flash often suffers from performance issues due to its heavy chip dependence. The last chapters of this book focus heavily on performance and optimization issues.